Education Boss: Limit Calculator Use On Tests

OTHER NEWS TO NOTE - THE NATION

September 26, 1997

WASHINGTON — Proposed national tests for mathematics should allow only limited use of calculators, Education Secretary Richard Riley said Thursday. He also ordered a temporary halt in test development. The announcement came as House and Senate negotiators prepared to wrestle with an $80 billion spending bill funding the Education, Health and Human Services and Labor departments for the budget year starting Oct. 1. Riley's statement on calculators took a step toward appeasing critics who say the test design favors a less than rigorous approach to teaching mathematics. However, Riley's nonbinding position goes against the advice of a panel created to decide what should be in the test.